The San Antonio Sandbur Patch

[worth1]

Darn russets.
For me it's white flies.

[karstopography]

Oddly bug free year here.

[bower]

Believe me I know what you mean about humbling place to grow.
As long as we're not defeated, humble is good. There are treasures in humble, hopefully your wooly and centiflor friends are some.

I have mites in the greenhouse, which mostly affect the upper canopy as they like the heat. So I've been able to stay ahead of them just by picking off the affected zone, and mostly by growing determinates so they don't get up where mites are worst. Still it's work and would be great to not have to deal with it.
My bigger problem in the past couple of hot humid summers is Alternaria blight. It's horrible because I selected my bred plants to be early and cold tolerant and resistant to the cold wet fungal diseases we used to get, and just when they are about stable it's suddenly a different kind of summer with a different set of issues.
Anyway I am growing a bunch of plants this year from some breeding mentors and past breeders who had disease resistance on their minds, and hope to see how my own stack up against them, and make some new crosses to take in respectfully any advantage they selected and which I missed.
Speaking of trichomes, I have Favorie de Bretagne, a Tom Wagner tomato, and it is way hairy!! As well as wispy, compact, and precocious. Looks to be as early as my Skipper Pink. IDK if Tom was breeding for disease and/or pest resistance in this plant but I know he had those objectives in mind, so I'm optimistic!
Looking forward to hear about your season and I hope the woolies and hairies are very mite unfriendly!

[Wildcat82]

Believe me I know what you mean about humbling place to grow.
As long as we're not defeated, humble is good. There are treasures in humble, hopefully your wooly and centiflor friends are some.

I have mites in the greenhouse, which mostly affect the upper canopy as they like the heat. So I've been able to stay ahead of them just by picking off the affected zone, and mostly by growing determinates so they don't get up where mites are worst. Still it's work and would be great to not have to deal with it.
My bigger problem in the past couple of hot humid summers is Alternaria blight. It's horrible because I selected my bred plants to be early and cold tolerant and resistant to the cold wet fungal diseases we used to get, and just when they are about stable it's suddenly a different kind of summer with a different set of issues.
Anyway I am growing a bunch of plants this year from some breeding mentors and past breeders who had disease resistance on their minds, and hope to see how my own stack up against them, and make some new crosses to take in respectfully any advantage they selected and which I missed.
Speaking of trichomes, I have Favorie de Bretagne, a Tom Wagner tomato, and it is way hairy!! As well as wispy, compact, and precocious. Looks to be as early as my Skipper Pink. IDK if Tom was breeding for disease and/or pest resistance in this plant but I know he had those objectives in mind, so I'm optimistic!
Looking forward to hear about your season and I hope the woolies and hairies are very mite unfriendly!

@Bower, it sounds like you're on track with the hairy types. L. Hirsutum crosses, like the Centiflor's and Wooley Kate, apparently do well in cool humid environments and can handle mites (see below).

Why is diversity so important? Caicedo says, “Wild species harbor useful and desirable traits. Some are salt-tolerant which could be very useful as our soils become poorer. Some are drought-tolerant, especially important with global climate change. Cold tolerant species, such as a few wild tomatoes that grow in the Andes Mountains, have begun to be used as root stock.
"One fascinating tomato growing prolifically in South Deerfield features an unusual hairy stem. This species (Solanum habrochaites) makes anti-insect chemicals and is chosen for rootstock because it can also survive in harsh, cold conditions.

https://ag.umass.edu/news-events/highli ... d-tomatoes

Solanum habrochaites (syn. Lycopersicon hirsutum)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solanum_habrochaites


I am very interested in hearing how Favorie de Bretagne does for you this summer. Make sure you keep us updated. I will have to try it next year - Sounds intriguing.

[Wildcat82]

Despite the mid -90's we've been experiencing for the past 10 days, my garden looks wonderful. I think it's because the high temps coincide with the departure of broad mites (broad mites can't reproduce in temps above 93 degrees). With Floramite keeping he Russet mites under control, my peppers, okra,and zinnias are now growing like they should.

I've included a few pictures of some of the unusual tomatoes I'm growing: Wooley Kate, Flamenco, and Red Centiflor. I always think it kinda fun to have some unusual plants in the garden. Keeps things interesting.

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[Wildcat82]

The South Central Texas Tomato Roundup
I’ve already given my assessment of my extremely early tomato varieties (Black Cherry, Sun Gold, and Husky Cherry Red) previously. Here is my assessment of the new varieties I’ve planted. The goal was to have these plants begin to produce just as hot weather has arrived to test their heat set ability.

1. All 3 of my Punta Banda plants are loaded with average sized cherry tomatoes. Tomatoes are firm, more of a paste type tomato texture and nice flavor.
The plants are small, probably 2 foot tall and somewhat bushy. With very firm ridged stems, it resembles Husky Cherry Red.

2. The 3 Flamenco plants are very small plants as well, the same size as Punta Banda. Not as productive as Punta Banda but is producing a respectable harvest of saladette sized fruit. Flavor is good.

3. My only Brandysweet Plum has produced some fantastic flavored pink cherries. The tomatoes have been running about 1.5 ounces and have amazingly thin skins. In spite of being meatier than, say, Sun Gold, the tomatoes practically melt in your mouth. A decent producer on small 3 foot plants, they seem to be more affected by the high heat we’ve been having lately. I will definitely be planting these next year as an early season tomato.

4. Jasper has been not nearly as precocious as advertized but the extremely viney plants are setting a lot of small currant/small cherries. Tangy flavor.

5. Centiflors.Wooley Kate: All 7 of these plants have been very disappointing with very little fruit set and no ripe fruit even after 90 days.

6. Both Prescott and Miel de Mexique have been slow to set but all 5 plants are beginning to set quite a bit of fruit. Nice flavor too.

[Wildcat82]

Finally (after 110 days) I finally got to taste the Wooley Kate and they are really good. Reminds me of a saladette sized Sun Gold. The flavor is more tangy than sweet though I’m not sure if they are considered to be ripe at the yellow stage or after they show more purple striping. Not super productive so far but that flavor means I will be growing a number of Wooley Kate next year. Since it is a small non-bushy plant that tops out at about 2 ½ feet, you can plant this variety very densely.

Meanwhile, Prescott, Miel de Mexique, Flamenco, and especially Punta Banda, have produced a lot of fruit. None of these plants have had their fruit miniaturized by the intense (95-100 degree ) weather we’ve been having the past month. Let’s see if that continues.

In my pepper bed, Mammoth Jalapeno have been the most productive though Carranza Poblano and Cubanelle have been reasonably productive as well. Gypsy and Flaming Flare haven’t been very productive while the shishitos have put out a ton of tiny gnarled 1 inch sunscalded blobs. Habanada has produced nada so far.

So far I have been really impressed with Everleaf Thai Towers and Emerald Towers basil. Have to say these have lived up to vendor hype. Both types of plants are waaaaayyyyyy taller (over 2 foot) and bushier than standard Thailand and Italian basil and have been much slower to bolt that normal basil varieties. These varieties are winners.

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